Donkey Kong (ドンキーコング) is a brown anthropomorphic gorilla and a recurring character in the Mario series, but is the main protagonist in his own series. The motif of Donkey Kong has been carried by two characters. The original Donkey Kong debuted as a villain in the self-titled Donkey Kong, where he kidnapped Mario's girlfriend, Pauline; it was later stablished to be Cranky Kong. The grandson of this Donkey Kong later take on the motif for his own Donkey Kong Country series, where he protects DK Island and his banana hoard alongside his nephew and best friend Diddy Kong from certain menaces like the Kremling Krew and their evil leader King K. Rool. Unlike Cranky Kong, he is on friendly terms with Mario. He is a playable newcomer character in Super Smash Flash 2.

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Character description

Donkey Kong's grandfather made his first debut in the Donkey Kong for the arcade in 1981. Here, he was the antagonist who held Mario's girlfriend, Pauline, captive over a construction building. Mario had to make his way to the top of the tower to rescue Pauline from Donkey Kong. He would later return in Donkey Kong Jr. which saw his young son rescuing him from Mario. He would once again be featured in Donkey Kong 3 which saw him go up against Stanley the Bugman.

After this, Donkey Kong seemed to be largely forgotten in the video game industry aside from remakes of the arcade classic, until Rareware released Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo, which depicted Donkey Kong's first appearance fighting against his arch-enemy King K. Rool. Donkey Kong Country was such a massive success that it helped the SNES take the lead in the 16-bit console war. The series was followed by two sequels in which Donkey Kong was, surprisingly, not playable due to being replaced by Dixie Kong.

However, Donkey Kong would be featured in Super Smash Bros. which marked his first appearance in a fighting game. He would then finally be featured once again as a playable character in Donkey Kong 64 for the Nintendo 64. He would then be featured in Super Smash Bros. Melee before starring in the Donkey Konga series and Donkey Kong Jungle Beat.

While he has switched between appearing as a protagonist and as an antagonist, Donkey Kong has never truly been "evil" and he remains a part of the Mario universe appearing in many of the Mario spinoff games. Donkey Kong also appeared as a baby in Yoshi's Island DS; and in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong games as Mario's rival.